It should come as no shock to anyone that HBO has renewed Game of Thrones for a third season, which will follow the plot of the third book in George R. R. Martin’s epic series, A Storm of Swords. Though the second season is only 2 weeks in, the ratings speak for themselves with a solid 8.3 million viewers. With a total of 7 books in the series, (two of which are not yet published), Game of Thrones will continue to be a stable presence on HBO’s Sunday night block for years to come.

Before the third season was even greenlit, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss started scouting locations with the assumption the show would get picked up. Michael Lombardo, the president of HBO’s programming requested advanced planning when it comes to the show due to how involved the filming could be. “I’ve learned that on ‘Game of Thrones’ I need to hear earlier on what the challenges are for seasons we have yet to visit” Lombardo said in a March interview.

Fan favorite actor Peter Dinklage who won an emmy for his performance as Tyrion Lannister in the first season of the show talked about some of the challenges of the series as well in a recent LA Times interview. “There’s so much pressure to, in terms of this genre, make it bigger. There’s all this talk about, ‘We want more battles!’ and there’s so many fan sites.” Dinklage said.

If you missed the first two episodes of this season’s Game of Thrones be sure to check them out on HBO GO which is now available to XBOX Live subscribers!